Why Middle & High Schoolers Need their Own Curriculum
Middle schoolers & high schoolers are very different, which is why they have separate curriculum. Check out some of the biggest differences in these curriculum! Read More
Mobilizing Your Middle School Small Groups to Serve
As a first-year teacher, one of the best things I said yes to was leading an extra-curricular group called “SHOUT.” This group consisted of student leaders who wanted to help… Read More
Kids Are People Who Haven’t Stopped Growing
In the 80’s movie, the Breakfast Cub, four distinctly different teenagers have a vulnerable moment in the school library where they all confess a common fear of becoming like their parents. Ally Sheedy put it this way. “It’s inevitable. When you grow… Read More
Expect a Crisis: Faith in Middle School
There are three drives that are hardwired in every kid: Wonder Discovery Passion If you think about those drives as dials you turn to help a kid connect with God, then what if you turn those dials to different volumes for different… Read More
The Last 52 Weeks
Twelfth grade. The phase when your emerging adult pulls away, gets closer, does things for the last time; and you both start asking, “What’s next?” If sixteen is “sweet,” then eighteen is “legal.” This kid is no longer a child. Technically speaking,… Read More
Motivations and Moral Compasses: Helping Students Discern What Is Right
Growing up has always been hard work. And it’s even more challenging today. Think for a minute about how access, connection, and pressure have changed since you were in a student. Today’s generation is growing up in a world where: Alcohol abuse… Read More
How to Help High Schoolers Respond to Cultural Changes
Every phase has unique cultural changes. But you can’t discover everything you need to know about the culture of childhood and adolescence in a book. By the time a book is printed, culture has changed. The only way for you to learn… Read More
Middle School: Understanding This Wonderfully Awkward Phase
Oh, the days of seventh and eighth grade…the phase when nothing you do is cool, everything is fun in a crowd; and one smart kid will remind you, “yeah…I know.” Here are a few things you’ll start to discover about kids in… Read More
If They Aren’t Asking Questions, They Aren’t Listening
There are three drives that are hardwired in every kid: Wonder Discovery Passion If you think about those drives as dials you turn to help a kid connect with God, then what if you turn those dials to different volumes for different… Read More